Yemeni President Will Not Quit in 60 Days: Official

Sanaa (Xinhua): The Yemeni Presidential Palace on Saturday denied media reports that President Ali Abdullah Saleh will cede power within hours, an official at the palace told state- run Saba news agency.

“The president will neither relinquish the power today ( Saturday) nor in 60 days,” Saba quoted the official as saying.

He said the ruling General People’s Congress (GPC) and the opposition Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) have not reached any settlement and those reports said that both sides came out to a deal of a mechanism for Saleh to step down within 60 days after transferring power to his vice president “were baseless”.

Meanwhile, Commander of the Taiz Air Force Base Yahya Eisa on Saturday dismissed reports that he and his soldiers of the base had defected from the regime and joined the opposition in street protests, according to Saba.

Yemen has been shaken by weeks-long protests across the country demanding an immediate end to Saleh’s 33-year rule since mid February.

Scores of government officials, diplomats and army officers defected from the government following last week’s shooting that killed 52 protesters in the capital Sanaa, and joined the protest movements.